Quincy, IL Radar

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While reading this article I flashed back to 2008 when the Obamacrats were saying that with Obama the entire world would love America again. Maybe this will be the year we all get a Christmas card from that little twerp in North Korea.

Actually, it does make a huge difference. Every study that you can find on the subject of single parent children shows enormous correlation between that status and criminality of the child, incarceration, poor academic peformance, being a victim of crime, living in poverty and in general having a much crappier life. I know all the "if it feels good do it crowd" will be uncomfortable with this but…

It doesn't. That is my point! Yet somehow, some must jump immediately to the conclusion that it was drugs or bad parenting that contributed. Why is that? I think it's much more feasible that this was the result of a meaningless argument with another kid. Blame the shooter, not the victim. And simply stating that racism is alive and well in this town is not racist.

No it really isn't appropriate. He is either dead or he isn't. If they had multiple sources confirm he is dead there is no need for the apparent. The coroner announcement or police announcement doesn't make the person dead. Lack of breathing is what makes them dead. Millions of people die each year in the US and nearly all of them are dead without coroner or the police ever seeing them…

A plan to raise Illinois’ minimum wage to more than $10 per hour passed a Senate committee Wednesday

SPRINGFIELD — A plan to raise Illinois’ minimum wage to more than $10 per hour passed a Senate committee Wednesday, despite protests from business owners who said it will harm their ability to stay afloat in a tough economy. Proponents of Senate Bill 1565 say a minimum-wage hike will put more money in workers’ pockets, thus enabling them to spend more money at Illinois businesses.

Illinois’ minimum wage now stands at $8.25. The measure would increase the wage by 50 cents a year until it matches the the inflation-adjusted equivalent of minimum wage in 1968, which was $1.60 per hour. The phased-in hikes would bring Illinois’ minimum wage to $10.55 in 2015, after which yearly cost-of-living increases would occur.

The Senate Executive Committee approved the proposal 9-5. The bill, sponsored by state Sen. Kimberly Lightford, D-Maywood, now goes to the Senate floor for a vote.

If the measure is enacted, Illinois could have the highest minimum wage in the country, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Washington state has the highest minimum wage, at $9.04 per hour.

Illinois last increased its minimum wage in 2010.

Backers of the increase, including minimum-wage workers and a small business owner from Chicago, said they barely can support themselves and their families on the current minimum wage.

Lathan Cole, 29, of Springfield, said he has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and worked with disabled people at a nonprofit, until he was laid off two years ago during the state’s budget crisis. He now works in a diner for $8.25 an hour.

Business owners, however, said the hike will cripple their ability to continue operating.

Doug Knight, owner of Knight’s Action Park, a water and recreation park here, hires about 200 teenagers and young adults to work at his business. He said he was forced to scale back his operating hours following the last minimum wage hike in 2010 because he could not stay profitable and had to cut costs.

“If my expenses go up, I have to raise my prices,” Knight, a third-generation businessman, said, noting that his business is tricky because families shop wisely when it comes to vacations, and he has regional competition in Missouri, Wisconsin and Indiana.

“If I can’t be profitable, I can’t grow my business,” Knight said.

State Sen. Kirk Dillard, R-Hinsdale, who said he has supported minimum wage hikes in the past, voted against the measure, saying, “The timing here is terrible,” economically.